Ed Freeman
About
Ed Freeman (www.edfreeman.com) is an educator and award-winning fine art and commercial photographer. He uses Photoshop as his primary creative tool, creating unique images from ordinary photographs. He has exhibited widely in the United Sates and Europe and has hundreds of articles and magazine covers to his credit. A book of his erotic nudes, Work, was published in 2000 by Bruno Gmunder in Germany. His first book of computer enhanced landscapes, Desert Realty, was published in spring 2007 by Chronicle Books. Equally at home in the studio and on location, Ed is a committed generalist. He is represented by Getty Images.
Gallery
LACP Interviews Ed Freeman
LACP asks Ed Freeman ten questions about his background, career in and beliefs about photography.
LACP: What kind of photographer are you?
Ed Freeman: I’ve shot everything from portraits to fine art: headshots, food, tabletop, lifestyle, landscape, travel, architecture, erotica, sports, hi tech. Everything I do these days is very Photoshopped. The only thing I haven’t shot is cars. I HATE cars.
LACP: How long have you been shooting?
EF: Since I was about nine. More than sixty years – I’m starting to get the hang of it …
LACP: Where did you get your training?
EF: Training? Back in my day, there WAS no training in photography. You just figured it out for yourself. Read a few books, spent a few thousand hours in the darkroom. More recently, I’ve taken a couple of seminars here and there, but I learn more from teaching than I do from being taught.
LACP: When did you know you wanted to devote your life to photography?
EF: The more accurate question would be, “How long did you resist realizing what you were really put here on earth to do?” Answer: quite a long time. I was a musician and record producer for 25 years. Before that, I thought I wanted to be a professor of linguistics. Those were interesting side trips, but eventually, photography won out – about 25 years ago.
LACP: Did you ever come close to giving up?
EF: This is the first time the thought has even occurred to me. And the answer is no. I never came even remotely close to giving up. Why would I? Just because there were times when I couldn’t pay the rent? So what?
LACP: Have you sacrificed anything by being a photographer?
EF: Hell, yes. I sacrificed having a really boring life doing something that didn’t interest me!
LACP: What have you gained by being a photographer?
EF: Since I can’t hardly remember ever NOT having been a photographer, I don’t think I can answer that question.
LACP: What classes do you teach at LACP?
EF: Photoshop.
LACP: What do you love most about teaching?
EF: There’s always that moment – or those moments – when I see the lightbulb go on in students’ heads – when it dawns on them what an stunningly powerful tool Photoshop is, when they see how a computer program can literally transform their whole concept of what’s possible – that’s the moment I live for. It’s pretty inspiring.
LACP: What advice would you give someone who is thinking about making a career in photography?
EF: Be prepared for a lifetime of learning. The technology is changing so fast these days, it doesn’t look anything like what it did ten years ago, and ten years from now it’ll be entirely different again. The future belongs to the technically adept. That said, a good picture is still a good picture. That hasn’t changed since the caveman.